2026-03-17 CAHIERS AGRICULTURES 2026 35(卷), null(期), (null页)
The multiple public and private initiatives to provide access to water in Brazil's semi-arid region have resulted in a mosaic of infrastructure that rural households combine to cater to various domestic and productive uses. Based on a survey, interviews and social mapping in three communities in Cear & aacute; state, this study analyzes the multifunctional arrangements through which rural households mitigate water insecurity. The diversity of sources, storage strategies, sharing among neighbors, and political mobilization emerge as mechanisms of adaptation to climate and infrastructural uncertainties. These hybrid and flexible arrangements guarantee the minimum necessary for consumption, domestic activities, and even small productive activities. These arrangements do not eliminate water insecurity: undersized supply networks, poor water quality, and private appropriation of community systems generate scarcity and socio-spatial inequalities. Water insecurity must, therefore, be apprehended not only as the physical absence of water, but as an expression of the political and social forms through which access to it is mediated.